Ron reads the epilogue
by ginnyrules27
Summary: Companion piece to Ginny reads the Epilogue. Set during the summer, right after the Battle in the DoM. ONE SHOT!


Ron reads the Epilogue

A/N: I OWN NOTHING!

Ron lay on his bed, thinking of the events that had just occurred. His best mate had seen his godfather die, right in front of him. He wondered if he was alright.

_Stupid You-Know-Who,_ he thought bitterly. _Why does he have to keep ruining Harry's life? First his parents, then Cedric and now Sirius? _

There was a flash of light, and Ron jumped out of bed; his wand drawn. He'd been jumpy since the battle at the Ministry, and he didn't relax until he saw that there was only a stack of papers.

**"Nineteen Years Later,"** Ron read and then gasped. This was set in the future! It was dangerous to mess with time, as a small voice that sounded like Hermione warned him.

_Screw it!_ he thought and began to read.

**Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September**

Ron smiled. September first meant the first day of Hogwarts.

**was crisp as an apple, and as the little family** **bobbed across the rumbling road toward the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. Two large cages tattled on top of the laden trolleys the parents were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and the redheaded girl** **trailed fearfully behind her brothers, clutching her father's arm.**

Ron let his mind wander to his first trip to Hogwarts and how Ginny had clung to their mother's arm, begging to go.

**"It won't be long, and you'll be going too," Harry told her.**

_YES!_ Ron thought. Harry would survive long enough to have a child. Ron wondered if Harry and Cho got back together.

**"Two years," sniffed Lily. "I want to go now!"**

Ron smiled. It would be just like Harry, to name his daughter after his mother.

**The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, Albus's**

Ron stared at the page, then shook his head. Only Harry would name a kid after Professor Dumbledore.

**voice** **drifted back to Harry over the surrounding clamor; his sons**

More than one? Merlin, Harry got busy!

**had resumed the argument they had started in the car.**

Ron shuddered; remembering the time Charlie had teased the Prat (AKA: Percy) like that. They went on for hours!

**"I won't! I won't be a Slytherin!"**

Ron chuckled.

"Seems this kid's got his priorities straight," he nodded.

**"James, give it a rest!" said Ginny.**

Ron dropped the pages in shock. _Ginny?_ As in his sister? But Harry…he didn't like her that way, did he? If so, he would have told him.

Right?

**"I only said he might be," said James, grinning at his younger brother. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth -"**

"Merlin, he is just like Fred and George," Ron chuckled weakly, still shocked over the fact that Harry would marry his sister.

**But James caught his mother's eye and fell silent.**

Ron shuddered. The Weasley look would be passed on to Ginny. His poor future nephew.

**The five Potters** **approached the barrier. With a slightly cocky look over his shoulder at his younger brother, James**

Merlin, was he reading about Harry's kids or the twins' ?

**took the trolley from his mother and broke into a run. A moment later, he had vanished.**

**"You'll write to me, won't you?" Albus asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother.**

**"Every day, if you want us to," said Ginny.**

**"Not every day," said Albus quickly,**

Ron laughed out right at that.

"Smart kid," he nodded.

**"James says most people only get letters from home about once a month."**

**"We wrote to James three times a week last year," said Ginny.**

"Really? Mum never wrote me once. Where'd Ginny inherit this letter writing ability?" Ron muttered. "Must have been Dad."

**"And you don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts," Harry put in. "He likes a laugh, your brother."**

"Like his uncles," Ron smiled at the thought of said twins.

**Side by side, they pushed the second trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, Albus winced, but no collision came. Instead, the family emerged onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was obscured by thick white steam that was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which James had already disappeared.**

**"Where are they?" asked Albus anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform.**

"Wonder who he's looking for..." Ron muttered.

**"We'll find them," said Ginny reassuringly.**

**But the vapor was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud, Harry thought he head Percy**

Ron scowled at the mention of the Prat.

**discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello . . . .**

**"I think that's them, Al," said Ginny suddenly.**

"Who is it?"

**A group of four people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Albus had drawn right up to them.**

**"Hi," said Albus, sounding immensely relieved.**

**Rose,**

"Must be one of Albus' friends," Ron said.

**who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him.**

"Three guesses who's kid that is," Ron chuckled, thinking of Hermione.

**"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Harry. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."**

"Huh?" Ron said shocked. He…he would actually marry Hermione? He smiled a big, goofy smile. She wouldn't just laugh at him if he told her how he felt!

**"No, I didn't," said Hermione, "I had complete faith in you."**

**"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him,"**

He chuckled at his future actions.

**Ron whispered to Harry, as together they lifted Albus's trunk and owl onto the train.**

**"I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it, I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."**

**Back on the platform, they found Lily and Hugo, Rose's younger brother,**

Ron was shocked that he would have more than one kid. He wouldn't mind having a big family but he didn't want his kids having a complex like he had.

**having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.**

**"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "but no pressure."**

**"Ron!"**

**Lily and Hugo laughed, but Albus and Rose looked solemn.**

"_Can't even take a joke,"_ Ron thought.

**"He doesn't mean it," said Hermione and Ginny, but Ron was no longer paying attention.**

**Catching Harry's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.**

**"Look who it is."**

**Draco Malfoy**

"No!" Ron groaned.

**was standing there with his wife and son,**

"Someone let him breed?" Ron said in disgust.

**a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat,**

"Bet Malfoy _loves_ that," Ron snorted.

**which emphasized the pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Harry.**

"Poor kid, to look like the scrawny git," Ron teased his best friend.

**Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.**

He blinked.

"Did Malfoy just act...not git like?" he muttered in shock.

**"So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breath.**

Ron took about five minutes to laugh at the poor kid's name.

**"Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."**

"Lucky girl," Ron smiled. Hermione was the best witch of her age after all.

**"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"**

**"You're right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."**

"Sounds like Dad," Ron nodded.

**"Hey!"**

**James had reappeared; he had divested himself of his trunk, owl, and trolley, and was evidently bursting with news.**

"What happened?" Ron asked and then realized the book wouldn't respond.

**"Teddy's back there,"**

"Who's Teddy?" Ron murmured.

**he said breathlessly,** **pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing clouds of steam.**

**"Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!"**

"Who's Victorie?" Ron murmured again.

**He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.**

**"Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin!**

"Good for Professor Lupin!" Ron smiled. "Wonder who the mum is?"

**Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin!**

"Ah so she's a Weasley," Ron nodded. "But who's kid is she?"

**And I asked Teddy what he was doing -"**

**"You interrupted them?" said Ginny. "You are so like Ron -"**

"OI!"

**"- and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added as though worried he had not made himself clear.**

"You made yourself clear," Ron nodded.

**"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Lily ecstatically. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!"**

**"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week," said Harry "Why don't we just invite him to live with is and have done with it?"**

"Why is he not with Professor Lupin?" Ron muttered, curious.

**"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I don't mind sharing with Al-Teddy could have my room!"**

**"No," said Harry firmly, "you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished."**

James did remind Ron an little too much like the twins.

**He checked the battered old watch that had once been Fabian Prewett's.**

Ron lowered his gaze to the floor in memory of his uncle that he never got to meet.

**"It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."**

**"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Ginny told James as she hugged him.**

**"Mum! I can't give a professor love!"**

Ron snorted. He'd give money to see a student do that; maybe to Snape. Nah, he wouldn't want the poor bloke to die.

**"But you know Neville-"**

**James rolled his eyes.**

**"Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love . . . ."**

_Neville would make a good Herbology professor, he's got better marks in that class than Hermione! _

**Shaking his head at his mother's foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at Albus.**

Ron frowned. He remembered one too many a time when Fred or George would do that to him.

**"See you later, Al. Watch out for the Thestrals."**

"Gee, I wonder where I heard that before?" Ron chuckled. Seemed like something Fred or George would say.

**"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!"**

**But James merely laughed, permitted his mother to kiss him,**

James seemed to be a mixture of Bill and the twins. Ron smiled at the thought.

**gave his father a fleeting hug,** **then leapt onto the rapidly filling train. They saw him wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find his friends.**

**"Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Harry told Albus. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats."**

Ron thought back the Battle of the Ministry and the Thestral he rode there. It was weird to say the least.

**Ginny kissed Albus goodbye.**

**"See you at Christmas."**

**"Bye, Al," said Harry as his son hugged him. "Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you're learned how. And don't let James wind you up."**

"Just like the twins," Ron chuckled.

**"What if I'm in Slytherin?"**

**The whisper was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced Albus to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.**

**Harry crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, Albus had inherited Lily's eyes.**

He'd have to ask Hermione how that was possible. You'd think after having three kids, more than one would have their father's eyes.

**"Albus Severus,"**

"No! No way! There's no way in hell my future Nephew is being named after that git!"

**Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Ginny could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, who was now on the train, "you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."**

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?"

"Ron, is everything okay?" his mother asked, concerned.

"Everything's fine, Mum," Ron called back.

Snape? Brave? Was Harry high on potion's fumes?

**"But just say-"**

**"- then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it?**

Ron worked hard not to vomit where he stood.

**It doesn't matter to us, Al.** **But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."**

"How does he know that?" Ron asked surprised.

**"Really?"**

**"It did for me," said Harry.**

**He had never told any of his children that before,**

"How?" Ron gasped. "How come he never told me?"

He was Harry's best mate! They told each other everything!

**and he saw the wonder in Albus's face when he said it. But now the door were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders, Albus jumped into the carriage and Ginny closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.**

"Poor Harry," Ron chuckled.

**"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he and Rose craned around to look at the other students.**

**"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me, I'm extremely famous."**

Ron chuckled again.

**Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily laughed.**

**The train began to more, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him . **

He honestly could not wait for this future, even though it was probably longer away than it sounded.

**The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.**

**"He'll be alright," murmured Ginny.**

"You bet he will," Ron nodded. "He's best friends with a Weasley isn't he?"

**As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.**

**"I know he will."**

**The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.**

Ron stared at the last paragraph for a moment. Did that mean You-Know-Who was truly gone?

A/N: I hadn't planned on writing this story, but I got a review on my Ginny reads the Epilogue story asking if I could do a "(Insert name here) reads the Epilogue" series. So I think I will.

*insert evil laugh here*

Why evil, you may ask? I've no idea why actually. I just thought it needed an evil laugh.


End file.
